HM 452

ff. 1-24v: A mery and p[leasant comedy called] Misogonus, The names of the speakers, Prologus, Philogonus pater…[signed:] Laurentius Bariωna. Ketthering die 20 Novembris Anno 1577. [f. lv, Prologue:] [? which doe frequente] Pernassus sacrede mounte/ [? h gif]te of eloquence & vercyfyinge skill…[W]e will not sease the trumpe of fame to blowe in humble wise/ [?] all yow here but now its tyme I must neds go my wayes.
Exit. [signed:] Thomas Rychardes. [f. 2:] Actus prim[us]. Philogones, E[upelas]. Phi. The vnfayned frendshippe and honest demenior/ Which I in yow dere Eupelas haue
always p[r]oved…[?]e thoughe v[n]worthy yow to fo[rgive] me & helpe me [?]/ [? spe]ake [from] thy h[ar]te Mi[sogonu]s my s[on]//
First discussed by J. Payne Collier, The History of English Dramatic Poetry (London 1831) 2:463-81. A. Brandl, ed., Quellen des weltlichen Dramas in England vor Shakespeare (Strasbourg 1898) 419-89, the first edition, from this unique manuscript. J. S. Farmer, ed., Six Anonymous Plays (Second Series) (London 1906) 133-243. R. Warwick Bond, ed., Early Plays from the Italian (Oxford 1911) 161-258. On the question of authorship, see G. L. Kittredge, “The ‘Misogonus’ and Laurence Johnson,” Journal of English and German Philology 3 (1901) 335-41, suggesting that the name “Laurentius Bariωna” on f. 1 stands for “Bar-jona,” i.e. “son of John”; see also S. A. Tannenbaum, Shaksperian Scraps and Other Elizabethan Fragments (New York 1933) 129-41 and D. M. Bevington, “Misogonus and Laurentius Bariwna,” English Language Notes 2 (1964-65) 9-10. In this description, the words and letters supplied in brackets are taken from the transcript of the manuscript made for
J. Payne Collier; manuscript apparently ends defectively, although very little seems to be missing.Paper (Pot similar to Briquet 12701, Auquainville 1573), ff. 24; 293 × 185 (285 × 110) mm. Leaves now individually inlaid; paired presence and absence of watermarks would suggest an original single gathering of 24
leaves, except that the proposed center bifolium, ff. 12-13, lacks a watermark.
Written in a secretary script, possibly by the “Thomas Rychardes” whose name follows the prologue on f. 1v; the list of speakers on f. 1 and corrections throughout are in another hand, the
same as the signature “Laurentius Bariωna” on f. 1, the presumed author.
Manuscript badly damaged on the edges; now inlaid.
Unbound; formerly in light brown calf, ca. 1830, in volume 8, folio series, of the Devonshire plays.Written in England by 20 November 1577 (date on f. 1), possibly for performance at Trinity College, Cambridge (see G. C. Moore Smith, Times Literary Supplement, 10 July 1930, p. 576). The corrector, “Laurentius Bariωna,” may also be the author.
Other names in the manuscript, besides that of the copyist (?) “Thomas Rychardes,” are: on f. 1, “Anthony Rudd” (1549?-1615), bishop of St. David’s, who had studied at Trinity College, Cambridge (see S. A. Tannenbaum, “A Note on Misogonus,” MLN 45, 1930, pp. 308-10); on f. 1v, “Thomas Ward 1577, Barfold,” in which the date and place (?) are added in an early modern hand, and the date itself is modified from “1777”
to “1577”; on f. 11v, s. XVI, “W. Wyllm.”; on f. 17, s. XVI, “John York. Iesu.” In the collection of the Duke of Devonshire and listed in the typescript “Alphabetical Handlist of the Titles of the Kemble-Devonshire Collection of English Plays,” compiled 1906-07, vol. 2, p. 358.
Acquired by Henry E. Huntington in January 1914 through Sotheby’s and G. D. Smith.Bibliography:De Ricci, 70.